Monday, October 13, 2008

Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2008 Track 9 - Alfred Hitchcock

Good evening...welcome back to the 2008 Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular... this is your ghost host Reggaexx and again I've got another great Jamaican sweet for your trick-or-treat!Alfred Hitchcock, born August 13, 1899 and died April 29, 1980, was probably one of the most enigmatic and recognizable figures of the 20th Century. Not withstanding his pioneering talents in the director's chair, he just had a personality you couldn't help but like. On his long running television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Hitchcock would deliver his trademark "Good evening" and then go on to introduce each episode in his usual droll fashion... to me those opening monologue were even better than the show itself. I never realized but there were actually two introductions shot for each episode; one for the American market which would poke fun at either a recent commercial or a sponsor and the other for the European market which would poke fun at Americans in general. Later when the show aired in non-English speaking countries, Hitchcock would record his introductions in French and Spanish as well. Pretty impressive!It is with Alfred Hitchcock Presents on my mind that I put together this track for the Spooktacular. I borrowed the introduction from his 1960 Ghost Stories For Young People LP on the Golden label and set it to a pretty rockin' early reggae tune by Bobby Ellis & The Crystalites called, appropriately enough, "Alfred Hitchcock" and taken from the 1991 LP Blockbuster Reggae Instrumentals on the Crystal imprint. The album, produced by Derrick Harriott, is a various artist collection of rocksteady and reggae songs with different performers teaming up with the Crystalites and recorded throughout the late 60's and early 70's.Track 9